


5 times people didn't realize peter & harley are dating +1 time they do

by censored



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Aromantic Harry Obsorn, Bisexual Peter Parker, Gay Harley Keener, HoH Harley Keener, Kinda, M/M, Minor Betty Brant/Ned Leeds, Minor Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Non Binary Betty Brant, Secret Relationship, Tony Stark Acting as Harley Keener's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:35:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24193675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/censored/pseuds/censored
Summary: what the title saysme, not following the trope correctly? more likely than you think
Relationships: Harley Keener & Tony Stark, Harley Keener/Peter Parker, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 57
Kudos: 661
Collections: Parkner Secret Relationship Collection





	1. MJ

**Author's Note:**

> this is for the parkner secret relationship event for the first half of may!! my first time participating in a server event and while this isn't the best, I'm kinda proud i finished a fic so here!

MJ didn’t like not knowing things. 

When she didn’t know something, she figured it out.

But she could not figure this out.

Peter and Harley were obviously best friends. They seemed to be constantly together. In the classes they shared, they sat next to each other and passed little notes back and forth. She knew that they often went to coffee shops to do school work if they didn’t want to do it at the Tower or the Parker apartment. Tony Stark gave them a private lab for only the two of them to use. Most nights, Spider-Man was seen patrolling with Iron Lad.

They were very often together, not every moment, but quite often. 

But MJ didn’t know if they were dating.

She knew Harley was gay and that Peter was bisexual.

The two of them could be in companionable silence or constant banter, comfortable with either. 

They knew when the other was overwhelmed, either Harley’s hearing aids or Peter’s senses acting up.

They knew so much about each other and it wasn’t just those dumb “get to know me” facts that were shallow. No, they knew pasts, moments of trauma, phobias, little quirks, and things you didn’t know unless you were incredibly close with the person. 

But she didn’t know if they were in a relationship.

And it was driving her mad.

She wouldn’t be surprised if they didn't even know they were dating or not.

Both were geniuses. On the other hand, both are oblivious. 

Peter knew what was happening around him at all times ーsans the times where he was exceptionally tired or completely comfortable with the people nearbyー and he was intelligent in academic and high-stress situations, but social situations were different, despite his aptitude for being incredibly polite. 

Harley was similar. He was able to react quickly and efficiently, and intelligently, in high-stress situations or just in everyday life. His southern charm and his near-permanent politeness to strangers saved him in social situations.

But they were oblivious.

She did what she did best. She hypothesized.

Option A: They were best friends and were not romantically interested in each other.

Option B: They were both pining. Peter more obviously, due to his heart eyes, but Harley’s soft smiles were present around Peter and only Peter.

Option C: They were in that weird stage of not knowing if they were actually dating or not.

Option D: They were dating.

With how these boys were, MJ couldn’t rule out any of those options. 

And it was driving her mad. 

MJ was watching them closely, trying to catch any hint that proved a relationship.

Harley was telling them a story about what he and Stark had done in the lab last night after Peter had left on patrol.

Interesting, but not unusual for Harley not to join Peter on patrol. Especially if he had been in the lab with Stark working on something.

Harley was talking using his hands, mocking Stark with a ridiculous voice, and Peter was staring at him with the largest heart eyes MJ had ever seen. 

That didn’t prove anything. 

Peter’s heart eyes were not reserved for just Harley. They appeared when he looked at Morgan and dogs and cats.

Peter had heard this story before, she noted, as he usually listened to Harley with apt attention, nodding along and asking questions, but he was just fondly looking at the blonde. 

MJ had never seen them hug, lean on each other, or even hold hands. Sure, Peter rarely platonically touched his friends, but surely if they were dating, he would hold Harley’s hand?

She couldn’t even count Harley’s pet names as proof of them dating. He was southern. She once heard him say “Oh bless your heart, honey” before insulting someone. Every time he greeted someone, he would call them sweetheart, honey, or darlin. Pet names were not exclusive for dating, or even friends. 

Signs of dating: spending a lot of time together, pet names, and public displays of affection.

They only did one of those.

Damn those southern pet names.

===

She caught Peter without his complementary cowboy in the hallway between classes.

“Peter, do you have a crush on anyone?”

Well, MJ always knew that she was known for her bluntness.

Peter blinked at her with those Bambi eyes.

MJ had seen that boy be a badass.

Those Bambi eyes were deceiving. 

“Uh,” he began eloquently, “no?”

“Was that a question or an answer, Parker?”

“An answer,” he looked at her confused, “I don’t have a crush on anyone.”

She gave him a nod and moved towards her next class.

So, Peter didn’t have a crush on anyone.

His heart eyes and fond smiles were just for one of his best friends, not because he was pining.

Harley, on the other hand, was still an enigma. The blonde gave Peter soft smiles and looks, so he might be pining, or oblivious to his feelings for Peter.

A quick text to Harley would fix this speculation.

MJ: Do you have a crush on anyone?

Harley: ?? no

Well, that answered that. 

They weren’t dating. 


	2. ned

Ned knew Peter. 

Peter told him almost everything. He didn’t take the “almost” personally, some things are just too hard to share.

But something like a relationship? He would know. 

He was sure of it.

===

Despite how close Peter and Harley were, Ned didn’t feel that he was replaced as Peter’s best friend. Peter could have multiple best friends and be close with them all in different ways, it wasn’t the end of the world.

They still had their movie nights and hung out together, whether that be just the two of them, their whole friend group, or a part of the friend group. 

Peter and Harley were close in a different way than Peter and Ned were. There was a difference in common interests and activities. Both were superheroes and worked daily with Tony Stark. (Ned couldn’t even say that he wasn’t jealous.)

He knew that MJ wasn’t dating anyone, even though he was kinda sure that she had a crush on someone, he just hadn’t deciphered  _ who. _ Peter wasn’t dating anyone. Harley wasn’t dating anyone. Gwen wasn’t dating anyone. Harry wasn’t dating anyone. He and Betty were dating. 

Huh, he didn’t realize that there was only one couple in their friend group.

===

The “learn to keep a secret, peter” group (that was the name of their group chat and Ned refused to refer to all of them in any different way) was at their usual table in Delmar’s having their weekly dinner together.

It was collectively their favorite time of the week. 

It was a time where they could be themselves and destress from school and superhero-ing for those who had double lives. 

(Ned wasn’t jealous.)   
  
(He totally was, who was he kidding.)

Plus, good food.

They had been chatting about some recent drama that had been floating around Midtown and the conversation inevitably drifted to crushes.

Ned could relax! There was no reason for him to be nervous about this conversation, he was in a secure relationship. 

He and Betty stayed moderately quiet as the others decided whether or not to divulge if they had a crush or not.

When asked, MJ just responded with a yes and then did not elaborate.

Gwen shrugged, admitting that she wasn’t quite sure yet.

Harry, the resident aromantic of the group, grinned and responded with a happy “nope!”

Harley gave Peter a look, one that Ned couldn’t decipher, before shrugging. 

Peter’s face went red, which was not an uncommon occurrence for how easily embarrassed he got, even with their friend group, before not giving an answer.

Ned was pretty sure they all noticed, but the conversation moved on without hassle, and Ned was left to wonder if Peter did have a crush on someone. 

And with the look that Harley gave Peter, he was sure that Harley knew who it was.

===

Later that week, when Peter and Ned were working on a new Lego set that they had recently splurged on, Ned decided to ask. Kinda.

“Hey Peter, you know you can tell me anything, right?’

Peter glanced up from the instructions manual with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah, of course. You’re my guy in the chair, Ned, I trust you.”

Well, it didn’t seem that Peter got the hint.

“Anything, you know? Spider-Man stuff, school stuff,” he hesitated, “love life stuff.”

Peter’s other eyebrow raised, “I know, Ned, you’re my best friend. You know you can tell me anything too, right? Is everything okay?”

Ned held back a sigh, “Everything’s good, Peter. Now, can you pass me the grey block by your foot?”

It seemed like Peter didn’t have a crush after all.

===

It took a bit longer to figure out the rest of the group’s crushes if they had any. 

MJ admitted she had a crush, but Ned didn’t know who it was. He suspected Gwen, Shuri, Cindy, or Sally. But he was terrible at reading MJ, so he had no clue. 

Harry? Nope.

Gwen might have a crush on MJ? Or someone outside their friend group. 

Now, Harley. Harley was close to all of them but super close to Peter. Peter probably knew Harley’s crush! Maybe that’s why Harley gave Peter a look the other day at dinner. The southerner didn’t want Peter to say who Harley’s crush was.

It took a few days, but Ned had gotten to the lunch table first and Harley was the first to arrive. He had a short amount of time to ask before the rest showed up. 

(Harley intimidated him, but he could say that most of their friend group did at this point. Harry? Billionaire. Peter? His superpowers. MJ? Terrifying. Gwen? She gave off a “Don’t Fuck With Me” vibe. Harley? Well, out of all of them, he looked the most intimidating. Six feet, muscular, and a resting bitch face that almost beat MJs. 

“So,” Ned started, having reassured himself that the blonde wouldn’t beat him up when Harley looked over to him, “are you looking to get into a relationship with anyone?”

Why did all his friends have such good control over their eyebrows? 

Harley expertly raised one in response to Ned’s nonchalant question. 

“No,” he drawled, looking confused.

Ned obviously wasn’t good at reading people. Neither Peter nor Harley seemed to have crushes on anyone and he couldn’t figure out who MJ and Gwen liked. 

Before he could ask another question, Peter plopped down next to Harley with a huff and MJ gracefully appeared into her seat soon after. Within moments, Harry, Gwen, and Betty arrived and their table became filled with chatter.


	3. betty

Betty knew relationships. They also knew what crushes looked like. And Peter definitely had a crush on Harley. 

The boy was obvious. Not just with his crush, but with most things in his life. 

Peter claims he didn’t want people to know about his internship ーBetty understood, that boy was humble as hellー but then came to school wearing a Stark Industries hoodie.

He says he tries his hardest at keeping Spider-Man a secret ー Betty can honestly believe he triesー but tends not to notice how much he gives away when he happens to rescue the decathlon team in DC.

Betty had seen the looks that Peter gave Harley when the latter wasn’t paying attention. Absolute heart eyes. 

Peter was crushing hard.

And Betty was nothing if not a good motivator.

===

“Hey, Peter!” They had managed to catch Peter alone (with a friend group as clingy as theirs? an admirable feat). 

Peter turned and looked at them and Betty was once again affronted with how much Peter was a puppy. That could kill you. A “looks like a cinnamon roll but could kill you” person, if you will.

He slid to the side of the hallway to wait for Betty to catch up, seamlessly sliding back into the crowd of students once they arrived.

“Hey, Betty, what’s up?”

They slung an arm over his shoulderーmostly to keep him from dashing off when he got embarrassedーand gave him a grin.

“I know you have a crush on Harley,” they gave him a moment to recover from his choking, “and I am here to help you ask him out.”

“Betty, what?” Peter got out, looking at them with confusion and a little bit of fear.

Ah, Betty loved being in a friend group that was simultaneously known for being complete nerds, attractive, and incredibly intimidatingーsans Peter, because he gave off an aura of complete “you could pour soup into my lap and I would probably apologize to you” while at school (patrol, his lab, and when he was comfortable around friends and family? anything but). 

“I am going to help you ask Harley out,” Betty enunciated slowly, not too loudly because they knew Peter could hear it with his superhearing and there was no reason for everyone around them to hear that. 

“I-you-Harley?”

He looked so confused and Betty almost felt bad, however, this boy was oblivious to most things, including his own feelings. Maybe he hadn’t realized he even had a crush on Harley?

Betty gave Peter a nod and a moment to collect himself.

“Betty, I’m not going to ask Harley out,” he told them, which was not what they were expecting. 

At all.

Why wouldn’t Peter ask the boy he has a crush on out? Maybe Harley had told him that he wasn’t interested in him. Or maybe he had already tried and got turned down? They were best friends, maybe Peter didn’t want to risk that. Or, Betty almost facepalmed thinking about it, Peter didn’t actually have a crush on Harley. Peter was not known as Bambi eyes for nothing, he looked at everyone he loved with adoration. They’d caught him looking at everyone in the friend group with his heart eyes before. 

“Oh,” they finally said.

Betty spotted Ned before Peter could respond and gave the brunet a pat on the shoulder, pushing their way through the crowd to get to their boyfriend. Thoughts of Peter’s ‘crush’ forgotten. 

===

Betty narrowed their eyes at Harley. 

The southern boy had been staring at Peter for quite a while at this point. 

It was odd. Not too odd, considering the type of people they hung out with, but odd nonetheless.

Whereas Peter was “looks like a cinnamon roll but could kill you”, Harley definitely more on the “looks like he could kill you, can kill you” side of the spectrum. 

That best friend dynamic was fun to see. Even more fun to see on a live stream when Iron Lad and Spider-Man teamed up. 

Anyway.

Harley was staring at Peter. 

With all of them in one of Tony Stark’s penthouse loungesーthis one, if Betty wasn’t mistaken, was the floor Harley lived onーand loudly playing a Mario Kart tournament, it was odd that Harley wasn’t watching the screen like everyone else.

Maybe Harley did have a crush on Peter! 

“You fucker,” Harley finally spoke, breaking Betty from their thoughts and drawing the brief attention from everyone not currently playing. 

“Huh?” Peter responded, his Iron Man socked feet in Harry’s lap, having been trying to knock the billionaire off his game this round. (Harry was playing Gwen, it was very intense.)

“You fucker,” Harley repeated louder and Peter looked over at him.

“You took the last piece!”

Peter looked to the coffee table, and sure enough, the pizza box was empty. And it had been Harley’s favorite. 

R.I.P. Peter Parker.

“Oh,” Peter looked back up to Harley, a tad of fear in his eyes.

So, no crushes Betty concluded. They were just best friends. 


	4. tony

Tony knew he was a father figure to both Harley and Peter (and probably more if he was being honest with himself) but he tended to avoid most fatherly responsibilities. The most vital? Love life talk.

Neither Harley nor Peter had ever told him about their love lifeーcrushes, kisses, dates, etcーand honestly? Tony knew he wasn’t the best person to talk to about that. Pepper, May, Macy, hell, even Rhodey was a better choice.

But, he couldn’t help it. He was curious as to who Harley was texting with such a soft smile on his face. Soft smiles were not common for Harley. At all. Tony wasn’t sure he had ever seen such a look on one of his pseudo-son’s face. 

This was supposed to be “Tony and Harley Lab Time” which was a rare occurrence that Peter and Harley weren’t in the same room as the other. A time where Tony and Harley bonded over building a car together and listened to music slightly louder than they could usually. 

Not “Harley Texts Someone While Tony Sits Awkwardly” time.

Tony was a genius. He was Harley’s kinda father figure. He would like to think that he would know if Harley was in a relationship, or at least the kid would’ve told him.

Harley hung out with Peter a lot. But they had never even held hands in front of him, let alone hug.

Tony wracked his brain for the other people he had seen Harley hang out with.

Ted? Or Ned, or whatever. Wait, wasn’t he dating someone else? Betty? Tony nodded to himself, those two were dating.

MJ? Man, that girl scared him. He couldn’t see Harley dating her. Also, Tony was pretty sure she was not interested in boys. Or anything. Other than justice.

He racked his brain for the other teenagers he saw frequently. 

Gwen? Same boat as MJ, slightly less scary. 

Harry? Tony barely stopped a scowl from reaching his face. Ugh, Osborns. Harry was significantly better than his father, but the last name just didn’t sit right with Tony. He and Harley could be together? He hated to think about it, but it could be possible. Had he ever seen the two of them do anything a couple would do? A flash of an aromantic flag that Harry had on his jean jacket came to the front of Tony’s memory. 

Well, Harry and Harley weren’t dating.

He might be dating someone from school, one of the teenagers that don’t seem to live in his tower. (Not that he minded, they brought life and laughs to a usually bland environment. Plus, he liked seeing his kids happy.)

(Oh my god, he had so many kids.)

Tony finally interrupts Harley’s rapid thumb tapping, “Who’re you texting?”

He tries to make it seem nonchalant like he wasn’t thinking about it for the last five minutes at this point, looking down at his desk. His empty desk. Of course.

“Hm?” Harley glanced up from his phone, distractedly.

Well, the kid was distracted enough not to notice..

Tony rolled his eyes, “Who’re you texting, kid? I thought we were going to work on the car.”

“Oh, I was texting Peter,” he finally replied, shooting off another quick text before shoving his phone into his pocket.

So, not a new relationship then. Those boys were best friends and nearly inseparable. 

He joined Harley at the classic mustang.

===

While they were both pretty open with them, Peter was more open. He rambled excitedly about every new thing in his life, while Harley would only begin to passionately discuss stuff like that when prompted and encouraged.

Harley was back in Rose Hill for the weekend, Abbie had just finished her yearly testing and Macy had expressed a desire to see her son. Tony flew Harley out that afternoon. 

He had been in Rose Hill for a day now, and Peter was in the Tower for his internship today. The kid practically lived here at this point, but May requires him to stay in the apartment certain days. One of those days was last night, so Peter was back and ready to work today. 

The kid had been telling him about a new idea he had while in one of his classesーa chemical bandage of some sort, biodegradable and completely harmlessーwhen something caught Tony’s attention.

Peter had said “my Harley.”

Not “Harley.”

Huh.

He knew that Harley and Peter were close, but Harley was the one to use nicknames, like all that southern pet name stuff, while Peter stuck to using people’s full names (or on very rare occasions, Tony had heard him said “Harles”). 

Tony called Rhodey all types of nicknames, including “my Rhodey” and his personal favorite, “platypus” but they had been friends for decades now. It was nice to hear Peter be as passionate about his best friend as Tony was. It was important to have people in his life he could look to for support and love. 

Peter was still rambingーTony listening despite the popular belief of his character, he did attentively listen to everything his family told himーand hadn’t seemed to realize he had called Harley his. 

It was cute.

Tony knew that Peter had his friend group. He and Ted-Ned were incredibly close. But he couldn’t help but get a warm feeling in his chest when the two most important kids in his life bonded enough to be best friends. 

When Peter finally looked up from the holograms he had been manipulating with a grin on his face, Tony had a grin and input ready in response.


	5. bucky

Bucky looked at the boys closely. 

Peter and Harley, the residential teenage geniuses in the tower (there were usually more teenage geniuses in the Tower but these two were here most often). 

The two were sitting cross-legged on the couch, facing each other, and talking with enough hand gestures to take out someone’s eye. 

Spider-Baby (a name that had started after Nat took one look at the boy with spider powers and announced, in Russian, that she was now his mother) was comfortable enough in the penthouse to not notice that Bucky had been staring at them for longer than normal. 

Steve was busy at the stove, humming occasionally to the radio, so Bucky was free to continue his observation of the teens.

He knew they were as close as two peas in a pod, always together and able to complement each other in a variety of situations. He was good at reading people. Not as good as Nat, but way better than some members of the team. 

Peter was harder to read than he had originally thought. The boy held a lot inside, only showing what he wanted people to see (and it worked, for most, Bucky realized. They all saw him as an enthusiastic puppy who was an open book. In reality, Peter used that as a way to protect himself. No one would expect the puppy to be able to take down criminals on a daily basis). 

Peter would make a good spy. His superpowers catered towards being able to sneak around, his appearance caused everyone to severely underestimate him, and he was a genius who could get himself out of any situation. 

Nat had been training Peter recently. His moves had become more spider-like. Bucky made a mental note to start training Peter as well. No one had begun to train him in regards to his super strength yet and if Bucky knew anything, it was how to control that. 

  
  


Harley Keener. 

The kid that Stark had pulled out of nowhere Tennessee declaring that he was a genius. And he is. 

(Bucky honestly didn’t know how Stark had managed to collect all the genius teenagers in New York and beyond. Peter, Harley, and Shuri. Which then became a group of teenagers that were best friends and could easily take over the world by lunch.)

(Bucky could admit he had a soft spot a mile long for those teenagers. They were little shits, but Bucky was incredibly fond of them all.)

Harley was a boy with daddy issues that was raised by an incredibly “give no shit, take no shit” woman with a younger sisterー Abbie Keenerー that was intelligent as hell. 

He held his temper well, holding back his anger and letting it simmer before he took down his rival without them noticing until it was too late. He was as good with his words and he was with engineering. Incredibly fucking good. 

Harley, with his southern politeness, took people down with his wit and underlying brutality that was hidden until needed. He reminded Bucky of his younger self, the one that parents would look at and say “that young man is nice and respectable” without any idea of just how brutal he was to those who deserved it. 

He was impulsive, but who wasn’t? At least the kid tended to make smarter decisions than most impulsive people he knewーBucky stole a glance at Steveーlike, for example, jumping out of a plane without a fucking parachute. 

Bucky, seeing their interactions, would be sure that they were dating. Had they done any PDA, it would have been clear. But they hadn’t. However, that meant very little to Bucky. He had grown up gay in the ‘30s. PDA among gay couples was non-existent. 

They’d make a good couple. Both were superheroes who knew of the other’s identity. They trusted each other. It would be good.

“Buck?”

Bucky startled out his thoughts, turning to Steve. 

“Can you grab the garlic bread out of the oven? I’ve got to keep stirring this.”

===

Team dinner was too chaotic of an affair to keep thoughts on Peter and Harley. 

They kept up with the conversation, had their own conversations, made fun of Stark, avoided talking about the drama of school (apparently, that wasn’t for the adults to hear). 

For some reason, food was served from youngest to oldestーbullshit if you asked Buckyーso the boys had grabbed their food and sat next to each other, like normal. He felt like he wasn’t getting anywhere in this mediocre investigation, but he did enjoy pretending to insult Sam in Russian with Nat. 

Pepper sent the boys to do the dishes before the gaggle of teenage geniuses appeared for a movie night.

===

Bucky enjoyed the smug looks he got to give the others when the teenagers all gravitated towards him upon arrival.


	6. +1 peter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and the +1!

Peter looked around him, at his friends, his family, his boyfriend. If you had told him two years ago today that he would be surrounded by over a dozen people that loved and cared for him, he would’ve called you insane. 

They had all hung out together enough that there wasn’t anyone overwhelmed or uncomfortable, they had grown into a massive family. A mess, for sure. But it was his family.

Sometimes a family wasn’t a mother, father, two and a half kids, and a picket fence, but rather seven genius teenagers, the Avengers, and their collected significant others. 

Bucky was deep in a discussion with GwenーPeter honestly didn’t know what.

Harry, MJ, Sam, and Steve were in an intense game of Mario Kart (including Sam yelling at Steve for not being able to drift and causing them to lose). 

Tony and Pepper were looking over them all from a shared loveseat, like proud parents.

The rest of them were sitting comfortably, chatting idly with those in close proximity, or just watching Steve lose at Mario Kart. 

Peter himself was sitting next to Harley, watching MJ and Harry absolutely destroy the two Avengers. 

He was happy. 

It was a good feeling. One that appeared in full force when he was surrounded by his best friends and his oddball family. 

He felt someone staring at him and glanced up to meet Harley’s soft gaze, smiling at his southern boy. 

Harley gave a small smile back and reached his arm over Peter’s shoulder, pulling him over to be able to press a kiss into his curls.

Peter’s chest exploded in warmth. Harley didn’t necessarily like PDA (they cuddled plenty when they were alone) so his little display of affection was something special. He didn’t mind either way, he didn’t grow up with a ton of tactile affection so not doing it in public wasn’t a huge deal.

“Wait, what?”

Peter had no idea who said that, but he looked up to see everyone staring at them. 

Even Mario Kart was paused.

“Huh?” Way to be eloquent Peter.

“Are you guys dating?” Harry, the brave soul, spoke up.

Peter glanced at Harley, completely and totally confused, but Harley looked just as confused.

“Yeah? We’re dating,” Harley confirmed, looking to Pepper who looked like she was about to laugh.

“Since when?” Betty exclaimed.

Peter startled, “Like eight months now?”

Betty groaned, placing their head into their hands.

MJ looked affronted, like them dating had personally insulted her.

Gwen and Harry shared a glance, confusion floating in their eyes.

Ned was looking between Peter and Harley, rapidly.

Pepper, Nat, and May looked at ease, amusement dancing across their features as those around them dissolved mentally.

The rest just looked entirely lost, with the exception of Bucky who gave him and Harley a nod.

“Did y’all not know or something?” Harley broke the silence.

“I asked Peter if he needed help asking you out, like last month,” Betty shamefully admitted.

“I thought you guys were just really close friends!” Ned confessed, Tony nodding along mindlessly.

“I couldn’t tell if you were just best friends or actually dating,” MJ disclosed, looking upset that she didn’t know.

“Eh,” Bucky started, “I wasn’t sure either, but I was leaning towards you guys dating.”

“How did I not know? Were you guys keeping it a secret?” Tony finally got his mind to function again, apparently.

“We didn’t mean to keep it a secret,” Peter started, Harley nodding alongside him.

“It probably wasn’t obvious because of our lack of PDA, right?” Harley drawled, his lips curving into an amused smirk. 

“I mean, to be fair,” Pepper, ever the queen, began to explain, “the boys don’t do anything best friends wouldn’t do in public, so it wasn’t clear that they were dating.”

Peter was pretty sure he heard MJ mutter something about “southern pet name bullshit.”

“Wait,” Tony whipped to face her, “how did you know?”

She gave him a Look, “I caught them cuddling one morning before anyone else had gotten up.”

Peter wasn’t surprised. They tended to fall asleep on the couch after everyone went to bed and Pepper got up first.

It wasn’t that he and Harley tried to keep their relationship a secret, they just didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. They were still best friends, so that dynamic didn’t change. The only thing that changed was now they cuddled and kissed when others weren't around.

Of course, Macy Keener and May knew about it (considering Peter couldn’t stop gushing about Harley, and apparently, Harley did the same about him).

Nat knew because she was Nat. She was also Peter’s spider-mom so they had heart to heart chats after training. 

“You guys don’t really act like you’re dating, if we’re being honest,” Sam looked between the two of them, separated from the half-hug Harley had given him that started this whole mess.

Harley gave a shrug with a ‘what can you do’ face, “I don’t like PDA.”

Harry and MJ simultaneously unpaused the Mario Kart game and Sam screamed in rage, drawing Steve’s attention back towards the screen in time to see his character fall over the ledge of Rainbow Road. 

That seemed to be the motivation for everyone to go back to their own conversations and draw their eyes away from an increasingly fidgety Harley.

Peter set his hand on the floor between his leg and Harley’s, an open invitation for a grounding point if the blonde needed it. 

It took a moment, but Harley placed his hand into Peter’s and that warmth bloomed in Peter’s chest once again, reinforcing the amount of love he felt from those around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> join the parkner discord server! https://discord.gg/nDyCx6p


End file.
